Art Profile: Murrays Bay Artist Eve Borley
Art Profile: Eve Borley
Eve Borley is a Murrays Bay based contemporary artist who has risen to local renown. Having sold more than 150 works, she is the poster woman of a ‘can-do’ painter entrepreneur in modern Auckland. Starting off selling in cafes (two of which have won Metro’s Best Café Awards) and schools, her work is now showcased in galleries and exhibitions nationwide. Borley invites us into her North Shore studio retreat to talk art, community, and inspiration.
What are your main inspirations?
I really feel a need to paint and to create. When I see the colours of nature, particularly flora and fauna, I know that they work well together; they’re kind of tried and tested methods. Much of my inspiration comes from nature; you can’t perfect what’s already perfect, and my paintings are a kind of homage to the beautiful world we live in, seen through my own mind’s eye.
Talk us through the process of how you find a subject you would love to paint.
I don’t paint realistically, so I don’t really work like that, in terms of finding an object and painting just that object. I just enjoy the process of painting: the way the colours blend and compliment each other, watching the
painting evolve.
We’ve seen that your titles are often of a kooky or cultural nature. How do you come up with titles for your work?
James Lawrence would say that paintings speak to you: I think is true for me too. It just feels right when you have the right title.
I’ve noticed that many of your paintings incorporate parts of the elements, such as pieces of wood or stones into your work. What or who inspires you to use such texture in your paintings?
Nature again is the biggest inspiration; it has the most beauty. I like using pieces of wood because I like the rustic or old western look. I like the primitive feel of wood and the elements. It evokes a feeling of being close to nature and earthiness.
New Zealanders, and especially North Shore residents, are renowned for being low-key. Do you believe that there is an actual North Shore art scene or just a congregation of artists?
There’s an art scene at Mairangi Bay Arts centre, and I’ve certainly enjoyed meeting a whole new group of people through there. Our small group of friends often exhibit together with other North Shore artists. My life has changed since I’ve been there and I see things in completely different way – through a frame. I was previously a landscape gardener so I’ve always had an interest in presentation and the usage of space, and it’s great to see this function of my personality translated into paintings.
When most people think of artists, they think of exhibitions or galleries. Where are the majority of your paintings sold?
Exhibitions and galleries. My paintings are also often sold to interior decorators for use in show homes or for their personal clients.
Do you think that contemporary art is the art of the future? It seems to be much more predominant than other forms to the uneducated eye.
Personally, I think that reality is so perfect already that to try and recreate it in a contemporary mode adds more depth than painting in a realistic way. You can change an image or idea but you can’t possibly recreate a photograph, so it’s better to put a more contemporary, abstract edge on things, to show others your own vision.
It seems that artists often develop their work and techniques over time. What do you wish you knew about art when you first started out?
That its only paint and it doesn’t really matter, that you can just start again. It takes a while to free up your strokes and techniques; it takes a while to become free and loose like children are. When we become older we lose the ability to be free with our modes of expression and ideas. We want everything to be perfect, and get frustrated when they aren’t immediately, and this process of learning to be creatively loose takes years.
Doing what I love doing
